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My Saturday at MIFFF

The Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival [MIFFF] is back to celebrate interesting and riveting filmmaking with their Opening Night Features, Midnight Movies, and Shorts. On a rare sunny fall Saturday, I spent 8 hours nestled in the northwest corner of Seattle Center at SIFF Film Center to check out MIFFF’s Saturday block of animated, fantasy, and science fiction shorts.

Here are a few shorts I enjoyed:

Animated Shorts

This year’s animated shorts were as diverse as they were entertaining. The unique filmmakers take full advantage of animation to leave a personal touch to the stories they to tell.

Defective Detective – a hilarious short about a detective who thinks there’s a heinous murder going on in the apartment above him. I love how this film gets to the point quickly and the pull away at the end is priceless. Grade: A

It’s Such a Beautiful Day – I wasn’t sure where this short was going, but it ended up being one of the most touching shorts I’ve seen in years. It’s the story of Bill who wakes up in a hospital with memory problems. Bill’s story is funny, sad, heartwarming, and beautiful. The film is a beautiful blend of real video footage and animation shown through a vignette lens. Director Don Hertzfeldt created a three part story for Bill that includes the animated shorts Everything Will Be Ok and I’m So Proud of You. You can check out more at bitter films YouTube page. Grade A-

Shinobi Blues – The story of a dishonored blue ninja who’s trying to find a regular job. The montage of the blue ninja’s attempt at different jobs and the Ninja Orientation are comedy gold. Shinobi Blues could easily be a full-length feature film. Grade: A+

Cadaver– A cadaver awakes and startles two students who help him get to his wife to say his final goodbye. The music and poetry make the film standout as well as two characters being voiced by Christopher Lloyd and Kathy Bates. Grade: A

Bedtime for Timmy – Little Timmy is trying to sleep, but every time he turns off his light, he hears something in his room. It’s a hilarious reminder of how scared we all were of sleeping in the dark. Maybe we had our reasons. Grade: A+

Fantasy Shorts

This year’s group of fantasy short had a music, dance, violence, but most of all good storytelling.

Monster – Director Deborah Burns tale about a post-apocalyptic world where a young girl draws the black feather and has to take the village offering to the monster in the woods. Grade: A

Tous le Homme s’appellent Robert [they’re all named Robert] – A naked man runs through the woods towards a woman calling for help, but to his surprise it’s a hunter with a gun – who’s hunting is the bigger surprise. Marc-Henri Boulier’s short is a throwback to the Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits storytelling that I grew up on. Grade A+

Believe The Dance – This short about an over enthusiastic dance instructor reminded me of the days when SNL was funny and could pull of a skit like this. These days, it’s up to independent filmmakers like Thomas Aske Berg to bring these hilarious stories to life. You can watch his character below in a short film on Funny or Die. Grade: A+

My favorite genre never disappoints and MIFFF is a great place to see some great sci-fi. This year’s block had a few emotional shorts that I wasn’t prepared for and a few laughs I didn’t expect either.

Appntmnt – A homeless man is having premonitions and races through the city hoping to get there before they happen. This heart stopping race against time leaves us with more questions than answers, but is an enjoyable 11 minutes nonetheless. Grade: B

Far – One of the most heartwarming films of the day follows David on his first date with Hannah and he realizes she’s not quite who he thinks she is. The film is cheesy and a little campy at times, but a great science fiction love story. Grade A-

Lost Memories – A couple in Paris 2020 shows off eye-popping futuristic technology and its potential to affects those around us. This powerful film, written and directed by Francois Ferracci, is an impactful 2:48 that could easily be a feature film. Grade: A+

HENRi – when a spaceship’s intelligence becomes self aware, he starts to realize why he’s been having visions. Even though I knew exactly where this story was going, filmmaker Eli Sasich paints a beautiful picture of HENRi and his relationship to the ship and its crew members. Grade: A+

My experience at MIFFF was fantastic as usual, but I missed out on a lot this year. The amazing shorts I watched Saturday were sandwiched between – the Friday’s Opening Night Feature, Mon Ami, The Midnight Movie The Human Race, Saturday night’s Horror sShorts, Midnight Movie at the Uptown: Lloyd the Conqueror, Sunday’s Horror Feature: The Big Black, the Action Shorts, and the Fantasy Feature: Alter Egos.

Check out MIFFF for the full list of films that were shown and to find out more information about how to support MIFFF and upcoming events.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.